Wine related articles
Spiders: New Healtful Helpers in the Vineyards
Loris Scagliarini - November 4, 2005
An extensive study conducted by scientists at Italy's Turin University Animal Biology Department, has shown that spiders could protect Italian vines, thus providing a strong marketing point for Italian vintners, faced with concerns by international consumers, who are increasingly demanding natural, healthful and organically-grown food products.
To begin with, as spiders feed on insects, which in turn would feed off
grapes, thus damaging or destroying the crop, they actually protect the
vines. According to the study, a healthy colony of spiders living in one
hectare of vineyard would eat about 20 million insects – about seven
kilos (15.5 pounds) in weight – during one growing season.
In addition, the presence of a healthful spider population in the
vineyards is sign of pollution-free environment, since all arachnids are
highly sensitive to the environment they live in and steer clear of
places doused in chemicals.
"The presence of spiders
from the soil up to the top levels of vegetation, as well as their
notable predatory capacity, make them an excellent indicator of
environmental health," reads a report by the researchers led by
Professor Guido Badino and published in the October issue of the monthly
Piemonte Parchi
(Piedmont parks.
The study, which ran from spring through to autumn, as spiders don't
spin webs in winter, kept track of almost 2,000 webs in different
Barbera grapes vineyards of the Piedmont Langa Astigiana. Each field had
a finely calculated amount of grass and leaves between the vines,
allowing scientists to analyze comparatively how the spiders responded
to the micro-environment and the consequent effect on the grapes
produced.
The pilot study, aimed at encouraging vintners to adopt spiders as a
natural alternative to chemical insecticides, showed that the web
concentration was higher where the foliage between the vines was denser.
Grass, leaves and small plants provide the perfect microhabitat for
spiders and support for the webs, that in turn, helped keep the vineyard
healthy and insect free.
In Italy there are around 1,400 species of spiders, and all but one,
which is distantly related to the poisonous Black Widow and whose bite
causes fever, nausea and dizziness, are totally harmless to humans.
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